Factors affecting women’s fertility desires and decisions in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka evidences in achieving replacement fertility in the late twentieth century which was faster than other South Asian countries. Women’s fertility desires and decisions play a significant role in determining the level of fertility of a country. Both desires and decisions are determined by a number of socioeconomic and cultural factors. Previous studies focused on fertility desires and its determinants by ignoring women’s fertility decisions. Therefore, this study explores the factors affecting both fertility desires and decisions of married women in Sri Lanka. The data for this study is obtained from the 2006/2007 Sri Lanka Demographic and Health Survey. The present study sample included 14,692 ever-married women, aged 15-49 years. The survey collected data on nuptiality, fertility, fertility regulation, fertility preferences, infant and child mortality, and health. Both descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses are used. Ideal number of children is taken as the dependent variable. The findings indicate that women’s education and the community level characteristics (residential sector and ethnicity) and economic status are vital parameters in determining both fertility desires and decisions. It is evident that education and poverty have negatively associated with decision for having an additional child